Governing might be about to get harder for Plaid Cymru ministers

It was always going to be like this.

Plaid Cymru was always going to say it had done well in its first 100 days running the Welsh government, and the opposition was always going to beg to differ.

Day 100 is no more significant in real terms than day 99 or day 101, but Plaid itself made this more than an arbitrary milestone after launching a 100-day plan with much fanfare back in February.

Any scrutiny or criticism this week – as well as praise – is something the party has invited.

Thinking back to the plan's launch at Plaid's spring conference, the document was not quite what the assembled room of journalists had been expecting.

There were not targets for NHS waiting lists for example, and even this week ministers have only spoken in vague terms of two-year waits being eliminated in "months".

Instead, there was a focus on taking stock, with plenty of reviews and audits.

Right from the beginning the plan was criticised for being "process-driven", "technocratic" and a "plan for a plan".

How progress has been judged again depends on your political stance.

Opposition parties say it is easy to start a review, that there has not been enough focus on things that affect people's everyday lives and that the first 100 days amounts to "more of the same".

There has also been criticism that Plaid had gone for easy wins.

The government argues that it is "laying the foundations for success" as it promised.

It also says it has started to deliver on the expansion of childcare, working out how to deliver more surgical capacity for the NHS and making the case for more powers and funding to the UK government.

There is a contrast to be drawn between the Welsh government's first few months and the early days of Andy Burnham's reign as prime minister.

He's unveiled a host of cost-of-living measures including cuts to energy bills and bus fares, albeit he did not have an election to fight and win first and has bigger economic levers at his disposal.

The new Welsh government says it is not chasing headlines for the sake of it and argues that its progress on childcare, for example, is significant.

But in the absence of one major announcement to hit you between the eyes, politics has a habit of creating its own news.

The government's failure to pass its supplementary budget last month is arguably the standout political moment of the first 100 days.

If it can't strike a deal to get it through before the end of the financial year, then it will have to make cuts elsewhere to pay for its priorities.

It also needs to strike a deal to pass an annual budget early next year – a make-or-break moment for any government.

And it will need to strike deals and reach agreement to pass new laws.

It is far less straightforward than for the previous Labour administration, which won half the Senedd's 60 seats in 2021.

Plaid is six seats short of a majority in the new 96-seat Siambr and needs to woo entire party groups – in effect either Labour or the Welsh Conservatives.

Plaid themselves alluded to the magnitude of the task in the 100-day plan itself describing Wales's challenges as "many in number and complex".

The budget defeat is a reminder of how difficult governing as a minority will be.

Listening to what voters have told us this week, it seems there is a general – although not scientifically evaluated – feeling that 100 days might be a bit too early to judge the new government.

It could well still be riding a wave of goodwill after its election win in May.

The political turbulence at Westminster also means that Welsh politics has dipped below the horizon for much of the UK media, perhaps allowing Welsh ministers an easier passage than they might have had.

But with the Welsh government now moving to "delivery phase", and with all the attendant difficulties in governing, ministers will now face more intense scrutiny during the next 100 days, and beyond, than they have before.